1. Field
Methods and apparatuses consistent with exemplary embodiments relate to generating a three-dimensional (3D) ultrasonic color image of a fetus based on skin color of a mother.
2. Description of the Related Art
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is an apparatus that irradiates an ultrasonic signal to a region of a body of an object and noninvasively acquires an image regarding soft tissue tomograms of blood flow by use of information obtained from a reflected ultrasonic signal (ultrasonic echo signal).
The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is small and inexpensive, executes display in real time and has high safety as there is no exposure to radiation, for example, x-rays, when compared to other image diagnosis apparatuses, such as an X-ray apparatus, a computed tomography (CT) scanner, a magnetic resonance imager (MRI), and a nuclear medicine apparatus. Thus, the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is widely used for heart diagnosis, breast diagnosis, celiac diagnosis, urinary diagnosis, and obstetrical diagnosis.
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus includes a body that accommodates main components of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, a probe that transmits and receives ultrasonic waves, a control panel that includes various switches and keys to input a command to manipulate the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, and a display unit to display the results as an image.
A medical professional performs ultrasonic imaging by moving the probe on the surface of the object with one hand and manipulating the control pad with the other hand. An ultrasonic image is displayed on the display unit in real time. Accordingly, the medical professional may diagnose the condition of the object.
However, since the ultrasonic image obtained through ultrasonic diagnosis is a black-and-white image, realistic perception of the image is limited. In order to overcome such limitation, in the related art, a method of forming a 3D ultrasonic color image based on an arbitrarily selected color has been used. However, such the 3D ultrasonic color image is not sufficient since the color of the 3D ultrasonic color image is not based on true color of the imaged object. Particularly, a 3D ultrasonic image of a fetus is less realistic than 3D ultrasonic images of a heart or breast.